New Fonda group honors 9/11 with fundraiser

Hometown Pride Committee will collect food in Pocahontas County

September 7, 2012

FONDA - A newly formed group is remembering the victims of a national tragedy by holding a fundraiser to support families in both Fonda and Pocahontas County.

The first ever food drive is being put on by the Fonda Hometown Pride Committee, a new group that came about earlier this year.

Phyllis Menke, Fonda City Clerk, said the group is a pilot program with Keep Iowa Beautiful.

"Pocahontas County and nine communities are a part of Keep Iowa Beautiful Hometown Pride," she said. "They initially wanted to go to eight or nine communities, but we decided to do it as a county."

Menke said they decided to do the food drive as their first event because others involved in Keep Iowa Beautiful have held them around this time of the year in the past.

"It was a call to service to nonprofits and charitable organizations to do something during the week of September 11," she said. "It's meant to tie in to the national day of service and remembrance."

Fact Box

Items Accepted

Peanut butter

Beans

Canned fruits

Canned vegetables

Canned tuna

canned chicken

Rice and pasta

Cereal and pancake mix

Hamburger Helper

Jams and jellies

Laundry and dish soap

Paper products

The food drive is set to begin Monday and continue through Sunday.

"This seemed like a really great project to do as our first project because it's all about getting the word out to the people of Fonda to drop off food," Menke said. "Once it's done, we'll take it to Upper Des Moines Opportunity, which is our food pantry in Pocahontas County, and they'll determine where it'll be distributed."

Even though the food drive doesn't begin until Monday, Menke said the committee has already heard positive feed back.

"We had people making copies of the posters and handing them out at the Labor Day celebration," she said. "People are advertising at garage sales and getting the word out. We're hoping the response we get as far as food is good because we've never done this before."

Menke said if the food drive is successful, it will likely continue for at least the next five years, which is how long the hometown pride program is scheduled to last.

Of the 631 people in Fonda, Menke said the goal is to hopefully have at least one person from each household donate something.

"We don't expect 100 percent participation, but we'd consider it a huge success if we get at least 50 percent participation," she said.

Menke said anybody who has questions can contact her at (712) 288-4466.